On January 27, 2023, the petition of various NGOs requesting for the suspension of arms supplies to participants in the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen was denied by France’s highest administrative court. Regarding whether the government-issued licenses for exporting arms complied with France’s obligations under international law, the court stayed silent.
Following the NGO Action Sécurité Éthique Républicaines’ (ASER) petition to the Paris Administrative Tribunal in May 2018 to reverse the Prime Minister’s denial to freeze arms export licenses to nations taking part in the Yemen war, this judgment was made.
The NGO claims that France’s licenses are in violation of both the EU Common Position on Arms Exports and the Arms Trade Treaty’s duties to France [1]. According to these texts, a State may not approve the export of guns if there is a chance that they may be used to violate international humanitarian law.
On July 8, 2019, the Administrative Tribunal determined that it had the authority to investigate the validity of a Prime Ministerial decision involving arms exports, but it rejected the demand to suspend the licenses. The NGO filed an appeal, and on September 26, 2019, the Administrative Court of Appeal once more denied the petition filed by ASER and other participating NGOs (Sherpa, Action des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de la Torture, Action contre la faim, Médecins du Monde, Salam for Yemen). The NGOs ultimately appealed the decision to France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat.
The decision of the Court of Appeal to decline to pronounce on the validity of arms export licenses granted to nations taking part in the Yemen war was maintained by the highest administrative court on January 27, 2023. The court believes that the Prime Minister’s refusal to revoke the licenses for exporting weaponry affects France’s ties with other countries and is therefore an act of state that is beyond the purview of the courts. The court concurrently denied the NGOs’ request to declassify information on the licenses, which might have been used to evaluate France’s compliance with its commitments regarding arms exports. The lack of openness in licensing decisions already poses a significant obstacle to the supervision of French arms sales, which is further complicated by this decision.
As a result, French arms manufacturers were named in a complaint submitted in June 2022 by Sherpa, the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights, Mwatana for Human Rights, and Amnesty International France for their alleged involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Yemen. Companies must abide by international humanitarian law and refrain from exporting armaments if there is a possibility that they may be used to commit crimes against humanity.